Bye Lance

[John Henry]

What is it about the Tour that the  middle classes get out of the Tour, and what makes them feel they have the right to impose their moral template onto it? The Tour is the private property of a newspaper company at the end of the day.

I'd never thought of it in those terms. I thought expecting sport to be clean was fairly universal. I didn't see it as part of the ongoing class struggle.

Obviously as I sit here in my four-bedroom mock Tudor detached house I'm missing out on the debauchery happening in the terraces and the mansions, as the nobility and the peasants join forces in a drug-fuelled hedonistic orgy. I feel so left out.

[David Martin]

Professional sport is entertainment. Expect it to be clean is a peculiarly British ideal. Even clean cyclists don't necessarily ride clean - look at the race fixing and so on that goes on in exhibition events. Thunderdrome had more rigging than the cutty sark.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

What is it about the Tour that the  middle classes get out of the Tour, and what makes them feel they have the right to impose their moral template onto it?

'Because the fans fund the Tour' seems like enough reason to me. If pro cycling doesn't need fans, than the racers can do whatever they want.

[Hot Flatus]

Professional sport is entertainment. Expect it to be clean is a peculiarly British ideal.

I don't think that is the case, at all. Look at the response of German TV stations in the fallout from Puerto and Freiburg.

Equally, think back to the Italian football scandals of the 80's. They were scandals because they weren't expected.

[Exit Stage Left]

I liked Jens' open letter on race radios.
http://www.cyclesportmag.com/news-and-comment/an-open-letter-from-jens-voigt/
Seems eminently sensible to me, and it would have been a considered distillation of the views of the Peloton. The comments are illuminating, some see the riders as performing bears, rather than as doing a job.
The distinction between Gentlemen and players disappeared late in cycling, it even persists in an odd way.
http://www.redmoncc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=351&Itemid=121
That event was won by two of Sean Yates' brothers.

[Biff]

A guy who lost out to Lance Armstrong in bid to woo Sheryl Crow insists he should now be credited as her boyfriend from 2003 to 2006.

[rogerzilla]

A guy who lost out to Lance Armstrong in bid to woo Sheryl Crow insists he should now be credited as her boyfriend from 2003 to 2006.

I await LA's response.  And obviously all the home s3x tapes are now mine too.

[clarion]

From BBC Sport

Sean Yates decides to retire from all cycling and Team Sky principlal Dave Brailsford says it is for "for purely personal reasons

We believe you Mr Brailsford!

Also  "Sky said Yates's decision was not related to doping allegations"

Hmmm, really? 

Sky are off to a flying start with being trustworthy, then.

[Justin(e)]

Sunday Times: David Walsh.

On the investigation into l'Equipe's allegation LA used EPO in 2005.

The UCI asked "Dutch lawyer Vrijman to investigate a L'Equipe story that showed Armstrong had used EPO to help win the 1999 TdF but the subsequent 132 page report didn't deal with whether or not Armstrong cheated but with how the newspaper managed to get the story.  WADA criticised the report for being 'unprofessional and lacking impartiality'.
In an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken, Vrijman was asked how he came to be appointed as the UCI's investigator. 'I am a very good acquaintance of Hein Verbruggen's' he said."

[Justin(e)]

Sky are off to a flying start with being trustworthy, then.

AFP

In 1988, Yates won stage six of the TdF, a TT at Wasquehal where he recorded the fastest average speed in the race's history to that point.

Just saying.

[rafletcher]

What is it about the Tour that the  middle classes get out of the Tour, and what makes them feel they have the right to impose their moral template onto it?

'Because the fans fund the Tour' seems like enough reason to me. If pro cycling doesn't need fans, than the racers can do whatever they want.

I don't think they do, at least not directly as of course no-one pays to watch.  The sponsors fund the Tour.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Yes and the sponsors pay because the fans watch and pay for their products.

[Exit Stage Left]

Yes and the sponsors pay because the fans watch and pay for their products.

TV dictates a lot of the features of the Tour. There have to be mountain-top finishes because the cameras like it , and the riders are sat up more to show the sponsors' logos. There will be sprint finishes with a lead out, because it shows off the sponsors' name. Before that there will be a suicide 'TV break', which has been given a pass by the Patron. The Tour organisers will be seeking to 'internationalise' the peloton, to expand the TV reach. The Lance era expanded the overall turnover of the Tour.
The alternative to spectacular racing which shows off the sponsors' logos is tactical racing and time trials, like this year. Our view of that event is skewed, because we had TV presentation with good access to the main actors, and it served Sky well. But in general it leads to talking-head television with presenters explaining the action in the street, and less racing with logos on display. I like the long flat stages where the helicopter shots are mixed with motorbike shots, but they are not sponsor friendly. The current frenzy doesn't do anything for the sponsors, other than to test their resolve.

[mzjo]

The hierarchy of the Tour

The sponsors pay!!!

The "aristocracy" who have places in the convoy or the village (départ or arrivée) pay, have paid or will pay dearly at some point in their lives.

The middle classes with their camping cars blocking roads and camp-sites probably pay but only in excessive fuel and alcohol consumption. Being mostly foreign they don't pay much of the promotion budget that is included in the daily prices the poor peasants have to pay (or the expenses of France Tele that come out of our tv licence fees).

The peasants who stand patiently at the side of the road waiting for a fridge magnet and a paper hat pay as well but it's all well hidden (and they are not really concerned about the race, that they'll watch on tele, 20 mins after the news and weather; it's all about the show for them, the real fans of the Tour).

When you think about it there are actually precious few who watch the Tour who are greatly concerned about whether the riders are doped or not. The riders are actually following an almost Pavlovian reflex to win prizes and the public watch the show created by them doing it.

Call me a cynic if you like but to find the real fans of pro cycling you need to be at Paris-Roubaix, San Sebastian, or Milan-San Remo (or the Ardennes etc.), not the TdF or probably the other Grand Tours.

[Exit Stage Left]

Call me a cynic if you like but to find the real fans of pro cycling you need to be at Paris-Roubaix, San Sebastian, or Milan-San Remo (or the Ardennes etc.), not the TdF or probably the other Grand Tours.

It depends what you're interested in. I like the Duo Normand and the Chrono des Nations.
The Duo Normand is a counting event on the European Tour, but it has 12 categories, and is probably the only chance that amateurs and vets will get to share a podium with the top pros, outside the TT championships in the UK.




http://www.duonormand.com/

[Exit Stage Left]

I had a rummage through the Duo Normand results. I've only found one sighting of an Audaxer. Howard Waller on a tandem.
http://www.duonormand.com/index.php?page=podiums#
Use the drop-down list on the top left for the tandem category, but look at the past winners in the Elites first.

Howard wrote a good report of his ride in LEL in 2005.
http://www.oxfordcityrc.fsnet.co.uk/LEL2005/

I suppose riding the Etape is the pinnacle for a lot of active fans of cycling.

[Biff]

In 1988, Yates won stage six of the TdF, a TT at Wasquehal where he recorded the fastest average speed in the race's history to that point.

Just saying.

Nothing to do with whether Yates was complicit in doping, but that victory came about because he started very early on and enjoyed a massive tailwind all the way. With half the riders still to start the wind changed direction to side/head. He was a very strong TTist anyway, and just got lucky.

[Exit Stage Left]

[I'm amazed that LEL linky still works - I thought that website was dead. I've copied a newer version across to my blog pages:  here]

It always make me laugh. Heather, the controller at Langdon Beck had spare leg warmers for those who might need them.
The Duo is great for 'degrees of separation'. My own brush with the famous is less exalted. I pushed Bradley Wiggins off on a Southport club 10, before following him as we were short of marshals, that was in 2007 when he won the Duo with Michiel Elijzen.

[Adrian]

In 1988, Yates won stage six of the TdF, a TT at Wasquehal where he recorded the fastest average speed in the race's history to that point.

Just saying.

Nothing to do with whether Yates was complicit in doping, but that victory came about because he started very early on and enjoyed a massive tailwind all the way. With half the riders still to start the wind changed direction to side/head. He was a very strong TTist anyway, and just got lucky.

Is it just me or is this joke so obscure as to be incomprehensible?

[rafletcher]

In 1988, Yates won stage six of the TdF, a TT at Wasquehal where he recorded the fastest average speed in the race's history to that point.

Just saying.

Nothing to do with whether Yates was complicit in doping, but that victory came about because he started very early on and enjoyed a massive tailwind all the way. With half the riders still to start the wind changed direction to side/head. He was a very strong TTist anyway, and just got lucky.

Is it just me or is this joke so obscure as to be incomprehensible?

Seems like a perfectly acceptable description of what happemed on that day. He may well have doped (as a "super domestique" and as part of the culture of the times) but that isn't necessarily the reason he won that particular race on that particular day by such a margin.

[Exit Stage Left]

In 1988, Yates won stage six of the TdF, a TT at Wasquehal where he recorded the fastest average speed in the race's history to that point.

Just saying.

Nothing to do with whether Yates was complicit in doping, but that victory came about because he started very early on and enjoyed a massive tailwind all the way. With half the riders still to start the wind changed direction to side/head. He was a very strong TTist anyway, and just got lucky.

Is it just me or is this joke so obscure as to be incomprehensible?

You can see the performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCXJHBXSnLI&feature=relmfu

He does look a bit shifty when he's asked why he'd suddenly come good in 1988 by a sceptical sounding Paul Sherwen. at about 4.30. He'd obviously geared up for the tailwind, which helped.

[Exit Stage Left]

Further research on the Duo Normand shows that it has the elusive direct comparison between Tour de France riders and Recumbents.
It's not clear if the course is the same, the women's event seems to be shorter.

http://www.directvelo.com/actualite/22378-duo-normand-classements.html

[Biff]

Is it just me or is this joke so obscure as to be incomprehensible?

Eh? I just pointed out that Yates, already a very good TTist, won because he had a massive tailwind and the others didn't.   

[Adrian]

Is it just me or is this joke so obscure as to be incomprehensible?

Eh? I just pointed out that Yates, already a very good TTist, won because he had a massive tailwind and the others didn't.   

Sorry, it is just that I only usually see your jokes, so posting something that wasn't one threw me.

[fuzzy]

I have taken my time over this decision as I was trying to detach my disappointment and disillusionment resulting from the overwhelming evidence of his 'exploits' from my feelings about the good he has done with the fight against cancer but, yesterday I considered my 'Livestrong' band.

I have been wearing my wristband since mid 2005. I have come to realise however that my wearing of the wristband was more down to my regard for Armstrong and his sporting achievement. Therefore, I had to do something about it.

As a result, this-



with the help of these-



became this-



Signed- Disillusioned of Buckinghamshire